Kala Kolohe Hose

Newly-crowned ICON Sport middleweight champion Kala Kolohe Hose will reportedly return to action against Geoff Bumstead on the undercard of Elite Xtreme Combat’s upcoming return to Hawaii on June 14th.

The news comes from Sherdog.com, which reports that the bout will headline a number of preliminary matches at the event, which will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.

Hose, who is currently riding a six-fight winning streak, picked up the biggest win of his young career in March with a fifth-round stoppage of veteran Phil Baroni to claim the vacant ICON Sport middleweight belt. Hose remains undefeated inside the confines of EliteXC.

Bumstead, a former hockey enforcer turned mixed martial artist, made his EliteXC debut last November, submitting Robert Ruiz with a rear naked choke in the first round. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native split his previous two professional bouts last year.

The event is slated to be headlined by an EliteXC lightweight title bout between champion K.J. Noons and top contender Yves Edwards. An additional lightweight fight between Nick Diaz and Muhsin Corbbrey has also been signed to take place.

Hometown favorite Kala Kolohe Hose captured the vacant ICON Sport middleweight title with a fifth round stoppage of UFC and PRIDE veteran Phil Baroni in what turned out to be an exhausting war for both fighters and those in attendance inside the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii.

Going against his traditional style, Baroni immediately shot in for a takedown to start the fight. Swiftly transitioning back and forth between half-guard and side control, Baroni easily controlled Hose and landed strikes from the top position while his opponent squirmed around, looking for some way to get the fight back up to the feet.

As the round progressed, Baroni visibly began to lose steam, allowing Hose to mount a small attack from the bottom and at least give the judges something to think about during the break.

Baroni scored another takedown at the start of the second round but found himself trying to fight off a kimura midway through. Baroni eventually let Hose stand up and the two exchanged on the feet for the first time in the fight. Baroni tried for another takedown moments later but Hose was able to stuff it and wound up on top. Hose pounded on Baroni but his attack was halted after being warned for an illegal punch to the back of Baroni’s head moments before the round ended.

“Coming into the fight, I knew Baroni had been working on his wrestling a lot,” Hose said after the fight. “When I would grapple in the gym, we would constantly work on my back, different submissions and standing back up.”

The title of ICON Sport’s latest event tomorrow night couldn’t be more fitting. “To Hell and Back”. It takes on a great amount of meaning for Phil Baroni, who is attempting to piece his career back together after testing positive for steroids under the watch of the California State Athletic Commission last year.

To this day, Baroni maintains that he did not take steroids.

“It still bothers me to this day,” Baroni said during a recent interview session. “It doesn’t matter though anymore because the damage is done. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future when I go to fight in other places. Will New Jersey even take me or are they just going to toss me aside because I’m a guy who failed a test for steroids?”

“I’m frustrated. I can’t wait to get in there and fight,” Baroni continued. “My career literally stopped in it’s tracks. Now I want to get it going again.”

With the past behind him, Baroni now has his attention focused on his latest opponent, hard-hitting middleweight convert Kala Kolohe Hose, who has experienced his own fair share of frustration after previous chances at the now vacant ICON Sport middleweight title were spoiled by former champion Robbie Lawler’s continual injury problems.

With Hose, Baroni receives an opponent that will likely play right into what he usually loves to do in fights - stand and slug it out. That’s exactly what “The New York Bad Ass” intends to do.

“I’m going in and I’m knocking the kid out, it’s that simple,” Baroni said. “There’s really not that much to say. He’s not the brightest crayon in the box. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. He acts like a wise ass, probably because he’s been hanging out with Frank Shamrock these days. I hope he’s content with the new tricks that he’s learned. I’m still going to put him to sleep.”

ProElite, the parent company of ICON Sport, has announced that it will be streaming the upcoming ICON Sport middleweight title bout between Phil Baroni and Kala Kolohe Hose for free on it’s official website this Saturday night.

The event will be available to members of ProElite.com. The televised portion of the card will begin at 10 PM ET. You can visit the event’s official site here.

ICON Sport officials vacated the title from the waist of current EliteXC champion Robbie Lawler after the Miletich Fighting Systems product was forced to pull out of two consecutive title defenses against Hose due to injury. Lawler has since announced his intention of competing for the belt again in the near future.

Baroni is coming off of a six-month suspension stemming from a positive steroids test under the watch of the California State Athletic Commission. Baroni has not fought since being submitted by Frank Shamrock at a EliteXC and Strikeforce promoted show last June. He signed a multi-year deal with ProElite last month.

In between his canceled fights with Lawler, Hose knocked out Full Force Productions veteran Frederic Belleton at a ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series event in January.

A wealth of news and events have developed over the four days that we were sidelined due to those damn server gremlins. Here’s a little recap of everything that has gone on since then. The majority of the news is displayed after the jump.

Frye-Taktarov Booked for YAMMA Pit Fighting

Longtime mixed martial arts veterans Don Frye and Oleg Taktarov will headline the main event at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural show, which is slated to take place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ on April 11th.

Elite Xtreme Combat has announced the complete card for their upcoming “Street Certified” event, which will take place this Saturday night at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center. The event will be airing on Showtime.

ATLANTIC CITY - On an exciting night that featured solid, non-stop action and entertaining fights, crowd favorite Eddie Alvarez (12-1) of Kensington, Pa., sent the hometown fans home deliriously happy by knocking out Ross Ebanez (18-6-1) of Hilo, Hawaii, in the second round Friday on the 2008 premiere of ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series on Showtime.

MMA on Tap has learned that Kala Kolohe Hose will now fight as part of ShoXC’s next event on January 25th.

The news comes from a press release sent out by Pro Elite yesterday.

Hose’s originally scheduled fight against EliteXC Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler for this weekend was postponed after Lawler suffered a torn right bicep during a recent training session. This is the second time that Lawler has been forced to pull out of a proposed bout between the two. Lawler pulled out of a slated bout in June because of a shoulder injury.

According to Pro Elite officials, Hose will remain the number one contender for Lawler’s ICON Sport belt regardless if he is victorious or not in January.

A venue for the event will be announced later this month. An official opponent for Hose and additional matchups on the card will be revealed in the near future

Icon Sport, the premier MMA promoter in the state of Hawaii, has cancelled their upcoming Fearless show, scheduled for this weekend December 15th. “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler was slated for the main event against Kala Kolohe Hose, but pulled out due to a pretty severe shoulder injury. When no replacement was found for Lawler, Icon Sport cancelled the whole event.

Personally, I think its pretty sad that they had to cancel the whole event over the loss of one fighter just 5 days before the event was slated to happen. There were 14 other fights featuring mainly local talent scheduled for the event. Obviously, it bad luck that they lost their main attraction in Lawler, but they should have made due somehow. If you have to offer partial refund, reduced priced tickets, or whatever, Icon should have done this. Telling 29 fighters just 5 days before their fight that its off is garbage. For an organization that’s affiliated with EliteXC, that’s unacceptable. Its hard to imagine that Gary Shaw couldn’t have helped out somehow. Isn’t that what part of the reason ICON was bought by EliteXC?

BTW, Icon via MMAHawaii actually posted the MRI report detailing Lawler’s injury. It shows a type 2 SLAP lesion with a complete tear of the long head of the bicep tendon. They said he hadn’t seen an orthopedic yet but that he would be out 6 weeks. That’s wishful thinking in my opinion. First off, it was likely an orthopedic who sent Robbie for the MRI in the first place. And with the findings that are outlined in that report, I’d be rather surprised if he doesn’t need surgery to at minimum correct the bicep tendon tear. This is more likely a 6-10 month recovery than the 6 weeks Icon is saying. Not good for Robbie.

The two were originally set to meet in June but the event was postponed after Lawler suffered a shoulder injury during training.

Lawler has won 7 of his last 8 fights since being released from the UFC in 2004. He knocked out Frank Trigg back in March to claim the ICON Sport Middleweight Title and then unified the belt with Murlio Rua’s EliteXC Middleweight Title when he stopped Rua with strikes last month at EliteXC: Uprising.

Hose sports a professional MMA record of 4-1, all four of his wins have come by KO or TKO.

Other fights on the card include a title fight between Bronson Pieper and Sadhu Bott as well as a meeting between Po’ai Suganuma and Richard Desforge.

NEW YORK – In less than seven months, ProElite’s respected live fight division, EliteXC, has gained the reputation for delivering consistently competitive, thrilling and memorable live Mixed Martial Arts events that showcase the world’s top fighters.

Under the watchful eye of Live Events President, Gary Shaw, EliteXC and SHOWTIME already have produced many significant accomplishments and has made MMA history on a couple of occasions; the most noteworthy of which: EliteXC is the first and only MMA organization on premium television.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, at Oahu, Hawaii, EliteXC will establish another first when it presents the most significant MMA event in Hawaiian history and the initial collaboration between EliteXC and Hawaii-based promoters and former rivals, ICON Sport and ROTR (Rumble On The Rock). The remarkable event will feature an explosive five-fight telecast airing live on SHOWTIME at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) followed by four fights streaming live at the premier mixed martial arts social networking and entertainment site, ProElite.com.